


Debate Partners (They've Got Issues)

by MissMorphine



Series: The Person Responsible for Making Public Speaking a Required Class Should be Fired [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Public Speaking AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-17 04:53:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5854936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMorphine/pseuds/MissMorphine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Severa knew that Phila had it out for her. She would be debating against Lucina. Lucina who was captain of the debate team. Lucina with the aunt who governed over all of Ylisse. Lucina with the beautiful eyes that sparkled like the ocean on a--</p><p>Nope. Not finishing that thought."</p><p>Severa never liked her Public Speaking class, but now she had a reason to hate it. Phila, her teacher, her mother's close friend, decided to place Lucina and Severa against each other in a mock-debate in class. Well, Severa was determined that she was going to win the debate, prove Phila wrong, and maybe impress Lucina a little bit along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debate Partners (They've Got Issues)

Severa glowered at the paper taped to Phila’s classroom door. After covering how to write an argument for a debate, modes of persuasion, and the format for a debate, the students had been given a list of topics to choose from on Friday; they would find out what topic they received and who their partners were on Monday.

Now that Monday had come, Severa knew that Phila had it out for her. She would be debating against Lucina.

Lucina who was captain of the debate team.

Lucina with the aunt who governed over all of Ylisse.

Lucina with the beautiful eyes that sparkled like the ocean on a--

Severa cut that thought off before she could finish it. She stomped over to her desk and put her books down with a huff. Phila must have put her against Lucina because she knew Severa could never win. Her mother was close with Phila -- they even played in the same local orchestra together -- and in the two and a half marking periods of this year, Phila must have seen that Severa was nothing like her mother. Why else would she put her against Lucina, if not to show off how wonderful her prized pupil was?

It wasn’t Phila’s fault, but seeing her every day reminded Severa of how different she was than the rest of her family. Her mother was a genius; she wouldn’t be surprised if her mother could literally turn objects into gold just by touching them. Her father wasn’t far behind her mother; what he lacked in technical skill, he made up for in tactical genius. He was one of the most important people in the government, just behind Lucina’s aunt and father.

The twins took after their father’s genius. Marc was much more eager to learn than Morgan, but they were both far more intelligent than anyone else Severa had yet. Not to mention, they had their freaky twin connection; they were always able to finish each other’s sentences and could probably read each other’s minds.

So Severa got to be the lonely, completely average, black sheep of the family.

When Lucina walked into the classroom and checked the paper on the door, her face lit up. Severa grimaced; Lucina was probably celebrating how easy her victory would be over Severa.

“Are you excited?” asked Lucina. She placed her books down neatly and turned her chair to face Severa more easily.

“Thrilled,” Severa replied sarcastically. Luckily, the sarcasm went right over Lucina’s head -- as it usually did. Lucina promptly turned around to face the front of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, which gave Severa the excuse to drop the conversation.

“As I’m sure you have seen on the door, you have received your topics and positions for the upcoming in-class debates,” Phila explained as she shut the classroom door. The class tittered in agreement, Inigo’s voice standing out the most as he asked if it was really necessary for them to debate in front of the entire class.

Phila began to go over the rubric for how the debates would be judged, and Severa took out a notebook to begin jotting down notes -- a rare sight from the redhead. If Phila thought that Severa would go down easy, she had another thing coming. She’d prove to everyone that she’s much more than Cordelia’s relatively average daughter if she won against Lucina…and maybe even impress Lucina a little bit.

Blushing slightly, Severa began sketching out an outline for her topic: abolishment of the death penalty. It was third on her list of choices, so of course she’d get her least favorite option. Regardless of her lack of interest in the topic, Severa was going to nail this debate and prove to everyone that she had her own merits.

And she was certainly not going to get distracted by Lucina’s hair and its faint scent of strawberries.

 

With Kjelle off at volleyball practice and Laurent at academic team, it was much easier for Severa to slip off to the library without much fuss. Lucina was the only other senior, and she was busy wrangling Inigo away from another poor victim of his gawds-awful flirting.

Although her father would certainly be able to help her prepare for the debate, Severa wasn’t going to even chance letting her family know -- hence why she went to the library instead of working in her own room. She wasn’t going to win because her father helped her; she would do this all on her own.

Sighing, Severa climbed up the stairs to the top floor and found the most remote corner that she could. She wasn’t going to risk anyone finding her at the library of all places; she had a reputation to uphold. Pulling out her laptop and putting in headphones, Severa got down to work researching the death penalty.

By the time Severa looked up, it was nearly six in the evening. Rubbing her strained eyes, she closed her laptop and headed down to the exit. She wasn’t going home for dinner with her family, and even if she was, it was only because she didn’t want to cook for herself later.

“I’m home!” shouted Severa as she walked through the door. She dropped her bag on the floor and kicked off her shoes haphazardly, only going back to neaten everything when her father gave her a look. Severa came to the table, Morgan already talking to their mother excitedly -- probably about how she and Marc would be facing each other in the debate.

“Severa, you’re home!” Morgan exclaimed. “Mom, Severa got Lucina as her opponent for the debate!” Severa flushed angrily. Her plan for keeping the debate secret from her parents had one -- well, technically two -- major flaw; the twins were blabbermouths.

“I’m going to kill you!” Severa screeched. She reached out to grab her younger sister when their mother stepped in-between them and placed a basket of hot rolls down on the table.

“No threatening to murder your little sister at the dinner table, dear,” said Cordelia. Severa crossed her arms and grumbled under her breath. “What’s wrong with Morgan telling us about your Public Speaking class?”

“Nothing, Mom!” Severa reached for a roll and took a large bite, using the bread as a distraction from the conversation. Thankfully, Cordelia dropped the subject and let dinner resume peacefully. As soon as the meal was over, Severa grabbed a few lemon bars -- her mother knew that they were her favorite -- and ran upstairs after mumbling out a quick thank you to her mother for baking them.

With her headphones back in, Severa almost missed the knock on her door. Shutting off the music with an exaggerated sigh, she told the visitor to come in. Morgan opened the door and gave her sister a small wave.

“Hi Sev,” said Morgan, “I’m sorry about telling Mom that you’re debating Lucina. I didn’t know you didn’t want her to know.” Severa shrugged, not all that concerned anymore. “Did you not want her to know because of your crush on Lucina?” Severa jumped out of her bed with a shrill shriek and ran after her giggling sister, swearing revenge if Morgan ever mentioned that again.

 

* * *

 

The students had until Friday to prepare their speeches; then on Friday, they were expected to present. Severa was surprised that Phila didn’t make her and Lucina go first. Instead, the twins were up first. Severa was fine with that; she’d heard them practice so many times at home that she could focus on her notes instead of them. Before she knew in, Phila was calling out her and Lucina’s names.

Severa approached the podium while Lucina sat in the desk to her right. The classroom had been modeled to look like a debate forum; two desks faced the audience, and Phila’s podium stood in-between the desks. Straightening her papers and settling her gaze directly on Phila, Severa began to speak.

“The witch trials were an ugly era in our nation’s history,” she began, “when innocent women were condemned to death by a flawed judicial system. Today, I ask if our judicial system has evolved past this point, and so long as the death penalty is in effect, the answer is no. Innocent men and women have been sentenced to death, only to be exonerated after execution. Without the death penalty, these people would have been released upon having their innocence proven, but because of the death penalty, they would never get that chance. In the case of inmates on death row, the error rate is approximately every one in seven people for false imprisonment. One in every seven people will be killed for a crime that they did not commit. The death penalty is so severe because of its finality. If new evidence arises that exonerates an inmate, death cannot be undone, and the justice system must live with the blood on the innocent on their hands.

“These unwarranted deaths raise the question of how reliable the justice system can be. We must not ask ‘does this person deserve to die?’ but rather ‘does the government deserve to kill them?’ The death penalty is nothing more than revenge and retribution. It perpetuates a cycle of violence and creates paradoxical hypocrisy. If the justice system chooses to enact the death penalty for a murderer, are they not also committing murder? No one punishes the justice system for carrying out the same action that they have condemned others for. Can we truly call it the ‘justice system’ if the one quality it lacks above all others is, in fact, justice?”

Severa resisted the urge to smirk at her teacher, but the feeling of victory was short-lived. They still had Lucina’s speech, both cross-examinations, the rebuttals, and their closing arguments.

Severa took a step back from the podium and faced Lucina, now standing. There was a glint in Lucina’s eye that was almost playful as she asked her questions. To Severa’s surprise, she was able to answer Lucina’s questions quickly and effectively. After Lucina’s speech, the second cross-examination continued in the same manner as the first. Severa almost swore that--

No. Lucina was not flirting with her. Even though it would be so like Lucina to flirt over competition, wishful thinking like that wasn’t going to get Severa anything except disappointment.

After shaking Lucina’s hand -- gawds, that girl had such soft skin -- Severa went to sit at her desk and waited impatiently for Phila to give them the results. Phila strode over to Severa’s desk first and placed a marked rubric on her desk. Severa blinked a few times and ran her fingers over the paper to make sure that she wasn’t imagining things. Phila had circled that the Proposition had won.

“Good job!” whispered Lucina with a bright smile. Severa would have found that sort of genuine kindness irritating in anyone else, but Lucina wasn’t that bad. Severa mumbled in reply; she’d be impressed if Lucina knew what she said, but Severa didn’t even know what she was trying to say. Compliments weren’t her thing.

“Severa,” said Phila, “please stay after class for a minute.” Suddenly, all the elation of winning disappeared. Phila probably thought she cheated or made her parents write her speech. Arms crossed tightly against her chest, Severa glared at the wall in front of her -- unnerving anyone who happened to glance in her direction.

As soon as the bell rang, the class rushed out. Severa sat at her desk, refusing to move over to Phila. Instead, the teacher came over to her.

“Look, before you say anything,” Severa said heatedly, “I didn’t cheat and I didn’t ask my parents for help. Just because I’m Cordelia’s daughter doesn’t mean I’m going to use her ridiculously incredible talents for my own gain. I’m going to make my own mark on the world!” Severa huffed indignantly when Phila didn’t bat an eye at her outburst. That reminded her far too much of her mother; she’d always remain calm whenever Severa threw a tantrum, and that only made her want to throw more to see if she could break her mother’s cool.

She had yet to succeed.

“No, Severa, I don’t believe you cheated,” said Phila. “I wanted to congratulate you on your hard work. This is the finest work that I’ve seen from you all year, and you deserve to be commended for it.” Severa blushed. Maybe she shouldn’t have lashed out like that. “Do you know why I placed you and Lucina together?”

“Because you expected me to lose?” replied Severa as if it was obvious. Phila smiled and shook her head.

“It was because I knew you would try harder if you were up against Lucina.” Severa raised an eyebrow skeptically, but waited for her teacher to continue. “Anyone else in this class, you wouldn’t have considered a threat, but Lucina? She would draw that competitive spirit out of you.” Severa muttered a weak denial and looked off at the door to avoid Phila’s eyes. As soon as Phila wrote the pass to excuse Severa’s lateness to class, Severa snatched the paper and almost ran out the door -- and almost right into Lucina.

“What are you doing here?” asked Severa. Lucina was standing in the hallway, still holding her books from class.

“I wanted to wait for you,” Lucina replied. “I wanted to congratulate you on winning.” Severa looked aside and blushed; she was starting to get really sick of her face constantly betraying her emotions.

“Y-you know you didn’t have to wait, and I’m not to blame if you get in trouble for being late to class!” Despite her attempt to sound irate, Severa couldn’t help but soften. “…but thanks for waiting.” The two girls walked down the hallway together until reaching the stairwell where they would go to separate classes.

“Severa?” asked Lucina hesitantly. “Would you like to go the Tea Room with me after school to celebrate your win?”

“I suppose so…” Severa replied. Lucina gave Severa one of those brilliant smiles and hugged her quickly before taking off down the stairs. The redhead stood in the stairwell for a minute, a slight smile on her face before the bell rang.

 

The Tea Room was significantly more high-end than Sticky Fingers. Owned by Brady’s mother, she didn’t often allow the kids into her shop. Maribelle said that she had no time to corral a group of fourteen teenagers into proper behavior while in her shop. Severa half-expected that Maribelle would want them to leave, but the blonde woman seemed delighted to see the girls.

“So…” Severa said as the girls sat down at a table in the corner. “Why here of all places? Not that I’m complaining or anything, it’s just that we never visit here…” Severa cursed herself internally. Of course she had to say something that was probably going to offend Lucina.

“Hanging out with everyone is nice, but I wanted this to be just me and you.” Lucina flushed a soft pink before picking up the list of teas in front of her, despite both girls having already placed their orders and paid at the counter.

“You know, Phila probably just let me win because she didn’t want everyone to think you’d win, even though you were definitely better than me.” Severa would have gone on more, but Lucina had gently placed her hand over Severa’s.

“You’re so hard on yourself…” Lucina said softly. “I wish you could see yourself for how wonderful you are.” No, her mother was wonderful. Her father was wonderful. Her siblings were wonderful. She was just…average.

“I’m not special, Lucina,” Severa said, “not like you, not like my family, not like anyone.” The arrival of their tea made Severa hopeful that she could get out of the conversation, but Lucina’s hand was still on top of hers and she didn’t seem like she was letting go anytime soon.

“The only thing you have right is that you’re not like anyone else. There’s no one like you in the world, Severa, and I would be lost without you.” Lucina’s free hand reached out to cup Severa’s cheek and draw her closer. She pressed a soft, chaste kiss against Severa’s lips. Severa nearly knocked over one of the teacups as she pulled herself closer to Lucina to deepen the kiss. Her lips moved against Lucina’s easily while Lucina was more hesitant.

“I-I apologize…I’m not sure how to do this,” Lucina confessed. Severa smiled slyly as she stroked Lucina’s cheek softly.

“Lucky for you,” Severa replied, “this is something I know I can teach you.” Both cups of tea completely untouched, the girls left the table and exited the shop. Severa led Lucina to the side of the building and pressed the taller girl up against the wall before leaning in for another kiss. Lucina’s hands found their way onto Severa’s waist as Severa tangled her hands into Lucina’s silky blue hair.

Their lips moved against each other’s, Lucina slightly more confident than before. Severa nibbled gently at Lucina’s bottom lip, earning a low moan from Lucina’s throat. That soft noise made Severa more determined to hear it again. By the time they broke apart for air, their lips were kiss-bruised and red. Lucina placed a soft, feather-light kiss upon Severa’s lips, the sweet gesture causing Severa to blush.

“So…” Severa asked. “What does this mean?” Despite attempting to sound nonchalant, the slight tremor in Severa’s voice gave her nervousness away. Lucina grasped Severa’s hand and laced their fingers together before giving her a shy smile.

“It means…” said Lucina, “that I’d like for you to be my girlfriend. No matter what the future holds, I’m going to cherish every moment because I’ll be spending those moments with you.” Severa buried her face against Lucina’s shoulder to hide her blush. She gave Lucina’s hand a small squeeze, which was enough for Lucina to know that she accepted.

Walking side by side with their fingers still laced together, there was no need for words because they could enjoy the other’s presence without needing to break the silence.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell I love Severa's inferiority complex? That's actually the reason why I opted for the Morgans being twins instead of just female!Morgan being Severa's sister. I liked the idea of Severa feeling like she's the only person in her family that doesn't belong. I just love that tsundere.
> 
> Does it make me really dorky that I named Gaius and Sumia's bakery "Sticky Fingers?" I feel like that makes me really dorky.


End file.
